On Making a Positive Contribution

It sure is a strange time we live in. This morning I received an email from Shapeways stating my account has had its password reset from a security incident. A few weeks ago my Visa card had a set of golf clubs charged to it by someone in another state, so it had to be shut down and a new card issued. Prior to that I rescued my neighbors from someone in a foreign country to whom they had given control of their computer to. We watched helplessly as the mouse flickered about the screen. The person wanted $300 for letting them have access to their files for six months – I assured the neighbors that payment of this person would be just encouraging delinquency. There is a real sense of loss of faith in people that happens when faced with so many things like this and other negative news.

I can see why people would want to earn some cash and there has always been that undercurrent of folks who would steal or work against the system. It is my hope that someday soon it will become far easier to work with the system than work against it. By giving each person a larger voice to shape the way things are done and the ability to earn enough to provide for themselves perhaps we all can live more peaceful and happy lives.

Even within a family there is usually a point where children grow up and learn that work becomes play and things go smoother when the obligation of being forced to do chores becomes a feeling of, “what can I do to help out?” As children become adults the dynamics of the family change as they earn money for themselves are given more say in how things are done.

Just as a family grows, we as a human race are facing some real challenges and some growing pains going forward. There is an enormous amount of work yet to be done and yet we can't burden just a few with it while the others live in luxury. With robotics and artificial intelligence seemingly poised to take over more and more jobs, the way we divide up the work may need to shift. Just as kids growing to adulthood, we may need to shift the way we do things and operate more from a place of love and compassion than “might makes right” and coercion. The days of working long hours for exploitive companies doing mindless work seems close to ending as automation takes these jobs, and yet there are few opportunities still for some people in the world.

There is potentially an unlimited supply of movies, books, blogs, artwork, music, games and other such items we can create and distribute electronically with limited environmental cost. All of this could generate new revenue.

Traditional ways of paying for development of such things centers around offering the user the ability to view the items for “free” and then pelting them with all sorts of advertising. I think that this has a negative effect on society because of the constant message of needing more than you have, and besides it is annoying to have to view the same thing over and over. Additionally for producers, advertising pays very little unless you are very successful.

There are a few projects like SteemIt that are trying to make a difference for content producers by paying them directly and this is shaping up to be a very exciting year.

However, many of us are not made to be award winning artists, poets, composers or writers. There are different levels of skills that we have and original content is hard to create. My hope is that we all can be rewarded at some level and encouraged to grow our skills.

If it becomes much easier for most people to work with the system instead of working against it I feel that many of the problems we see in the world now will clear up. After all, why spend your time and effort doing things that are of no benefit to others if there are easier ways of doing beneficial things and plenty of opportunities.

The koi fish pond picture I took on vacation. It reminds me somehow of abundance and a certain degree of cooperation. Thank you for reading and allowing me to share my opinions.